Update

The doctors in Columbus talked, then they communicated with Ron's oncologist, then Ron and I met with his doctor. This is the plan at this time. Ron is to go in Monday to meet with a surgeon, who is planning to cut Ron under the throat, and put a scope down the chest to get a biopsy of one of the small masses (lymph nodes) in his chest. They want to see if it is still cancer and not scar tissue (hopefully, it is scar tissue!) before they do anything drastic! If it is negative, they will probably just finish his chemo treatments as previously planned, and maybe do a little radiation. However, if it positive, then it looks like we will be sent to the Cleveland Clinic for yet another opinion. If they decide that the stem-cell transplant is the route, as well, then, it looks like they will give him some different, and strong, chemotherapy before they admit him into the hospital. It sounds like things are going to move quickly, so I am putting on my seat belt for the the ride. The cool thing is that our insurance will reimburse us for gas and hotel expenses for Ron and me. They would even pay for it if we flew to Cleveland (don't think we would do that though).
For those who don't understand the long hospital stay, allow me to try to explain a little. This is IF they do the transplant. First, they have to up the chemo (they fear the cancer cells are building a resistance to the chemo he is currently taking, known as ABVD, which is the standard treatment for the Hodgkin's patient. This is unusual, as typically a patient either does not respond or does and it is gone. However, he responded well, but now seems to be going backwards). They would remove his own stem cells, and freeze them. Then, they will admit him in either Cleveland or OSU for the high dose chemo with stem cell support. For six days, they said, they would give him this high dose treatments, then give him back his stem cells. They would have to watch him for probably around12 days, to be sure he does not develop an infection, as the treatments will basically wipe out his white blood count. I don't think the doctor really wants Ron to go through this, so I think he would like to try something else if Cleveland can give us another plan... this treatment is seriously tough on the body, and it will be awhile before he would recover.
Ron was anointed last night at church. It is all in God's hands, His will is what we want.
Thanks for praying!